Check here CAT exam total marks and number of questions, as a part of your CAT 2025 journey. Also know the marking scheme and sectional weightage so that you know how much preparation is required for which section of the CAT.
CAT total marks and number of questions
CAT 2025 exam will be conducted on November 30, 2025. With just about two weeks to go for it, candidates must now focus on exam based strategy and preparation. CAT is an MCQ based exam, conducted to assess an MBA aspirant’s English communication, quantitative aptitude and reasoning skills. Candidates appearing in CAT 2025 exam, must know what is the composition of the CAT question paper and of how much marks will the exam be. Read this article to know CAT Total Marks and Number of Questions, which will help you in exam preparation and performance. CAT 2025 mock test has been released and now you can check the latest exam pattern.
- CAT Total Marks and Number of Questions
- CAT Marking Scheme 2025
- CAT Section Wise Number of Attempts
- CAT Total Marks and Number of Questions Over the Years
CAT Total Marks and Number of Questions
There is no change in the test pattern from previous year. Given below is the table indicating CAT total marks and number of questions for 2025 examination.
| CAT Sections |
CAT Total Question |
Marks Per Question |
Total Marks of CAT |
|---|---|---|---|
| VARC |
24 |
3 |
72 |
| DILR |
22 |
3 |
66 |
| Quantitative Aptitude |
22 |
3 |
66 |
| CAT Total Marks |
68 |
- |
205 |
Also read:
CAT Marking Scheme 2025
CAT has simple marking scheme. Below mentioned are the key points to understand the CAT marking scheme:
- CAT exam total marks is 204
- Every question will carry 3 marks
- There will be negative marking of -1 for incorrect attempts
- There will be no negative marking for non-MCQ questions
- Negative marking does not apply to non-MCQs and unanswered questions
CAT Section Wise Number of Attempts
CAT 2025 will have 68 questions but it will not be mandatory to attempt all the questions. Candidates must however, make sure to attempt a good number of questions per section to get a good CAT score and percentile. Given below is the estimated number of good attempts for CAT 2025:
| CAT Section |
Number of Questions in CAT |
Number of Good Attempts |
|---|---|---|
| VARC |
24 |
18 |
| DILR |
22 |
15 |
| Quantitative Aptitude |
22 |
16 |
| Total |
68 |
47 |
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CAT Total Marks and Number of Questions Over the Years
Marking scheme of CAT exam has not changed in the last decade, but CAT total marks and number of questions have been revised multiple times. Check below CAT exam total marks and number of questions over the years:
| CAT Year |
Number of Questions |
Total Marks |
|---|---|---|
| 2024 |
68 |
204 |
| 2023 |
66 |
198 |
| 2022 |
66 |
198 |
| 2021 |
66 |
198 |
| 2020 |
76 |
228 |
| 2019 |
100 |
300 |
| 2018 |
100 |
300 |
| 2017 |
100 |
300 |
| 2016 |
100 |
300 |
| 2015 |
100 |
300 |
| 2014 |
100 |
300 |
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CAT question papers are released within a week of the exam in the form of a PDF as a response sheet and answer key. Candidates who have appeared for the test are able to access the CAT question paper and answer key. The question paper of every slot is released on the same day along with candidate response sheet and official answer to all question. If any candidate needs previous year CAT question papers for preparation purpose, then they can download them from Shiksha website. We have hosted last five years' CAT question papers for aspirants to download and practice. These official CAT question papers are available for download free. You can download the CAT question paper PDFs at this link: https://www.shiksha.com/mba/cat-exam-question-papers Candidates must check and practice the latest CAT question paper to know the latest exam pattern and difficulty level.
The CAT VARC section is dominated by RC questions. Out of 24 questions about 14-16 are based on Reading Comprehension passages and the rest of them are based on parajumbles, para completion, etc.
CAT has about 12-16 RC question. Since, it is not mandatory to solve all the questions, candidates can maximize their scores by leaving out the questions related to the passage they find the toughest. There is negative marking in CAT so candidates must ensure that they mark only the correct options or do not mark any option at all.
The key change in CAT question paper 2024 was increase in number of questions in DLIR section. Till 2023, the DILR section used to have 20 questions. In 2024, it had 22 questions. The time limit for it was the same and no other section had less questions. Which means, in CAT 2024, candidates had to attempt 68 questions instead of 66 to solve in the same time (120 minutes). DILR sectional time limit was 40 minutes as in previous years. There was no other change in CAT 2024, the difficulty level was same as previous years.
No, it is not mandatory to attempt all the questions in CAT. Candidates can choose to attempt questions as per their preparation. It is not possible also to attempt all the questions due to time limitation and difficulty level. Reading dense RC passages often take up a lot of time. In DILR and QA too, some questions are time taking and calculation intensive due to which not much time is left in hand to attempt all questions. The aim of every test taker should be to attempt about 2/3rd of the total questions in all the sections of CAT.
There are no straight forward vocabulary questions in CAT. Out of the total of 24 questions in VARC section, 12-14 questions are Reading Comprehension based and rest of them comprise parajumbles, para completion and odd sentence. CAT is the only MBA entrance exam, which does not have direct vocabulary and grammar questions. However, one needs to have strong vocabulary and grammar to be able to solve RC, parajumble, para completion and odd sentence questions.
Vipra Shrivastava is MA in English Literature from Delhi University with extensive experience in content writing of over 14 years. She has been handling content for Management, Accounting and Commerce streams for 8
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Student Forum
Anything you would want to ask experts?Answered 14 hours ago
One should keep 9 months for CAT preparation, but it is possible to prepare in six months too provided the plan is focussed and exhaustive. For a six month preparation plan, one will need to dedicate 8 to 10 hours daily.
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
CAT is one of the accepting exams for admission to MBA at ISMR Pune. However, it is not compulsory. Aspirants with a score in CMAT, MAT, XAT, MAH MBA CET, etc. can also get admission. Candidates selected based on their entrance exam scores also need to pass the personal interview round for admission
N
Guide-Level 15
Answered a week ago
No, CAT scores are not compulsory for admissions into MBA course at Chhatrapati Shahu Institute of Business Education and Research. The institute accepts other national/ state level management entrance exams too. The names of the accepted entrance examinations are: XAT/ MAT/ ATMA/ MAH MBA CET.
A
Contributor-Level 9
Answered a week ago
No, CAT scores are not compulsory for admissions into MBA course at GLA University, Mathura. The university also considers scores from other management entrance exam and one university level entrance exam too. The names of the other accepted entrance exams are: MAT/ XAT/ UPSEE.
C
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
No, CAT scores are not important for enrollment into Masters of Business Administration course at Chitkara University. Because CAT is not the only scores which are considered by the university, it also accepts the scores of MAT/ XAT/ NMAT/ CMAT.
K
Contributor-Level 10
Answered a week ago
Minimum qualifying cut off for IIM Ahmedabad is 95 percentile whereas for IIM Bangalore and IIM Calcutta, it is 85. However final cut offs for these three top IIMs are between 99 to 100 percentile.
S
Contributor-Level 6
Answered 2 weeks ago
Yes, you can join Adarsh Institute of Management and Information Technology without appearing for CAT. This is because, the institute also accepts other tests. The accepted exams include CAT/ XAT/ MAT/ CMAT/ KMAT/ PGCET/ GMAT. Hence, if you have appeared for any of these, you can still apply.
M
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 weeks ago
Yes, Myra School of Business does offer CAT scores based Scholarships upto INR 1.5 lakh. In recognition of outstanding performance in CAT, MSB awards special scholarships as follows:
- INR 5 Lacs for students securing a minimum 90 percentile
- INR 1 Lacs for students securing a minimum 85 percentile
- INR 75
h
Contributor-Level 10
Answered 2 weeks ago
LISAA School of Design, Bangalore BDes admission is done based on performance in the in-house entrance test. LISAA CAT is conducted at the LISAA centres. Candidates need to connect with the admission team to set up a time slot. Besides, it is important that the eligibility criteria is fulfilled.
M
Contributor-Level 9
Answered 2 weeks ago
No, CAT is not mandatory for School of Business and Management, Christ University MBA admissions. Students can alternatively submit scores of other national-level management exams. These include MAT/ XAT/ CMAT/ ATMA and GMAT/ GRE are also accepted.
S
Contributor-Level 10